by Debra Kayn
The streetlight flickered on, and the snow continued coming down. She reached over and flicked the windshield wipers once, clearing her view. For how much it snowed in town, it would be double the amount at the cabin.
The driver's side door open and Caiden threw a bag up on the seat and then climbed inside. "I called in a pizza order for us while I grabbed my stuff. We can pick it up in town. That way you don't have to cook."
She laughed. "In other words, you're not hot on the food I have at the cabin."
"I didn't say that." He stopped at the top of the hill, put the truck in four-wheel drive, and descended slowly, so not to slide. "Though breakfast bars and oatmeal resembles prison food, and I rather go without than eat them."
"Noted." She leaned forward, looking on the road ahead of them. "I hope the pizza doesn't take too long. The roads are getting bad already."
"The truck will do okay getting up the mountain." He braked at the stop sign and put the truck back into two-wheel drive.
"Thankfully, there aren't very many people in town. You can park out in front." She looked at him. "I haven't had pizza since I moved here. What kind did you get?"
"Sausage, mushroom, and tomato." He pulled to the curb and shut off the engine. "Sit tight. I'll run in and see if it's ready."
She took off her seatbelt. "I'll go with you."
"You don't..." He looked at her and nodded. "Suit yourself."
She flipped the hood of her coat up over her head and climbed down out of the truck, hurrying across the sidewalk to wait for Caiden. When he reached her side, she slipped her hand inside his, and let him guide her inside the pizza parlor.
Hit with the wonderful aroma of pizza, she inhaled deeply on the way to the counter.
A teenage boy approached. "What can I get you?"
"I called in an order," said Caiden.
"Last name?"
"Hall." Caiden planted his hand on the counter.
The teenager said, "It'll be ten minutes. Everyone's calling in orders tonight cause of the snow. You can pay now and take a seat, or I'll bring out your order when it's done, and you can pay when you get it."
While Caiden took out his wallet, Jolene stepped back and looked at the corkboard on the wall and read through everyone's business cards. There were a lot of babysitting jobs wanted, cars for sale, and people selling firewood.
Caiden leaned down and whispered, "I'll take you back to the truck to wait."
"No, let's wait inside. One pizza won't take very long to make." She turned and looked out at the room. Half the tables were empty. "Come on."
She tugged on his jacket sleeve and worked her way to the windows where they could watch the snow. Slipping out of her coat and hanging it on the back of the chair, she sat down.
Caiden sat without taking off his jacket. She leaned forward. "You ordered my favorite pizza."
"I remember." He looked outside.
She warmed. The only way they ate together back when she was a teenager was when she paid and brought the pizza to him. He couldn't afford to take her out, so she used her money, which meant she always purchased the kind of pizza she liked. Luckily, Caiden enjoyed the same kind, or maybe he was too hungry to care, she could never be sure.
"What do you have to do tomorrow?" She reached across the table and hooked her finger around his pinky, tugging his hand closer.
"The way the snow is coming down, I'll need to get an early start and make sure the pumps stay clear of ice and snow." Caiden lowered his voice. "I should probably stick around at the station after that."
She tilted her head. "Are you sure you want to stay with me at the cabin tonight with the snow and having to work early?"
"That's not even a question." His brows lowered. "I'm staying."
She smiled. "I'm glad because the next question would've been if I could stay at your house?"
"I don't want you there."
"Why not?"
He lowered his chin and then met her gaze again. "You deserve the cabin. You're comfortable there."
He might as well have reached across the table and kissed her. She felt the same way having him at the cabin. Without him there, the cabin was only a broken dream.
A man walked up to the table. "I don't know what you're trying to prove coming in here, but this is a family place."
Jolene looked back and forth from the man to Caiden. "Excuse me?"
"My wife and kids are here." The man thumped the table with his fist. "You need to leave."
The man never once glanced at her. He was challenging Caiden.
Caiden stood. Jolene jumped from the chair at the set jaw on Caiden's face. Everything happened too fast for her to make sense of the situation. Caiden stood in front of her with his hand behind him, shielding her.
"Jolene?" said Caiden without turning around. "Go up to the counter and ask for our pizza."
She stepped away, glancing over her shoulder. Caiden's body had gone stiff at the man's approach and remained that way as he refused to move. Her heart raced. Why would that man make Caiden leave?
"Your order is ready," said the teenager.
She turned around. "Thank you."
Holding the warm box, she moved toward the door, hoping Caiden would look her way and come to her. As if her wish came true, Caiden turned away from the man and walked to her, opening the door, and escorting her to the truck.
Once inside the truck with Caiden, she asked, "What was that about?"
"Nothing."
"He wanted you to leave. Why?"
Caiden used his arm to wipe the window beside him that had become steamed from the pizza in the cab. "The town doesn't like felons in their space."
"Oh." A heaviness settled on her shoulders, and she stared out at the snowflakes in the beam of the headlights all through town.
The more she thought about the embarrassment that man had put Caiden through, the more irritated she became. By the time Caiden picked up speed going out of town, she wanted to get out of the truck and go back to the pizza parlor and tell that man to go to hell.
"I'm pissed," she said, finally breaking her silence.
"Let it go."
"But, that's ridiculous. All you were doing was buying pizza. What did that guy think would happen if you ate pizza?" She groaned in agitation. "I should've said something, but honestly, I didn’t understand what was going on."
"It's my life." He kept his gaze on the road. "You were right about what you said earlier."
"What did I say?"
"That we've both changed," he said.
His facial expression remained the same. It was his hands that she noticed told the truth. His fingers squeezed the steering wheel, and his knuckles had turned white in the glow of the dashboard. Her head pounded and the heat coming off the pizza box burned the top of her thighs through her jeans. She hadn't taken it to heart that living life after prison was difficult. She'd wanted to believe that he could find happiness.
Only after the confrontation at the pizza parlor did she realize he received the same attitude from his employees today. They were afraid of him, and he catered to their fears by not making them come inside his office. He even stayed out of the gas station, so his customers would feel safe.
Other people believed he was a killer.
CHAPTER 29
I believe fantasy and dreaming can be made a reality. — Rachel Zoe
The fire crackled in the fireplace. Caiden picked up his sixth piece of pizza and bit into the crust. Unlike Jolene who picked at the same piece of pizza with her fingers, never taking a full bite, he ate because he understood what it felt like to go without food. He knew a full stomach would sooth the anger that hung on after his run in at the pizza parlor.
Confrontations with the citizens of Federal happened. Not every day, but enough. He'd learned to keep moving forward. People had a right to their opinion. He had a right to freedom because he'd served his time. The details weren't anyone else's business.
"You need to eat," he sa
id.
She held a mushroom pinched between her fingers. "I am."
"Picking the toppings off isn't eating." He held up his crust and ate the piece in one bite.
"I don't understand people." She chewed and swallowed. "Did you know that guy?"
"Nope." He picked up a napkin. "It doesn't matter if I know people or not. This is a small town. They know who I am."
"They don't know you at all." She tossed her naked piece of pizza back in the box. "You should've told him the reason you went to prison was an accident. You were boxing."
"No." He exhaled loudly. "I killed a man."
"Not on purpose."
"Which is why I served ten years of a fifteen-year sentence. It could've been double the time if intent was proven." He stood, picked up the leftover pizza and walked into the kitchen, putting the box in the fridge. "There's no reason for us to hash out the ins and outs of the judicial system or what happened that night. We were both there. You have to remember I'm free now, and not planning on going back to prison. No one can take that away from me."
She joined him in the kitchen and washed her hands at the sink. "It doesn't seem fair."
"Life isn't fair." He waited until she'd dried her hands and pulled her toward him. "I'm fine. The only thing bothering me is how you're upset for my sake. You don't have to be. I deal with it in my own way."
"I want different for you," she muttered, rubbing her hands over his chest and sighing. "Seeing you today at work and then what happened at the restaurant makes me admire you more for what you've accomplished. I never realized how hard it would be for you to live with your past and despite the hardships, you've carved out a life for yourself. I'm proud of you. It's other people who make me mad."
He hooked his finger under her chin and brought her forward, kissing her. "That's the difference between you and me. I don't like people, so I don't expect anything differently from them. You still expect the good in people."
"Which is disappointing." She kissed him quickly. "I have something for you."
He rubbed against her. "I've got something for you."
She laughed, and the tension from their encounter in town eased. "Hold that thought."
Jolene walked into the hallway. He went back to the living room and sat on the couch. Stretching his legs out, he crossed his ankles and yawned. The long day made shorter by having Jolene with him, he found himself more relaxed than if he'd stayed home.
There was something about coming out into the woods, knowing no one was around, except Jolene, that relaxed him.
The fire warmed the soles of his feet, and he let his head fall back on the couch. It seemed impossible to go slow with Jolene when he was scared of losing her. He wanted to prove to her that they could start over from what they'd built in the past. The faster she realized that the more secure he'd feel.
As much as he trusted his love for her, he couldn't ignore how fragile she seemed. Almost leery about trusting herself, and that wasn't the way he remembered her.
He stood and put another log on the fire. Staring into the flames, he heard Jolene talking. He walked to the hallway, spotted the light on in her workroom, and found her on the phone with her back toward him.
"You shouldn't have done that." Her back stiffened as she paused. "I don't know who is giving you that information, but it's none of your business."
He stayed in the doorway.
"Which I'm sure is illegal. There's a law against that." Jolene shook her head and turned around. "I'm not going to talk about it with you."
Aware of Jolene's agitation, Caiden stepped forward. She caught sight of him, and he lifted his brows. If someone on the phone wanted to upset her, he'd take care of the problem for her.
"Okay, that's enough." Jolene gazed at Caiden while talking into the phone. "Unless you want me to cut all communications with you, you'll drop this. It's your choice."
Jolene closed her eyes before looking right at Caiden. Then, she lowered the phone and disconnected the call before shoving the cell in the pocket of her jeans.
"Sorry. A call came, and I got distracted." She turned around and opened a drawer on her organizer. "I've got your gift right here. It's silly, but the other day, I was working with the imperfect garnets, trying to clear my mind before I worked on the Quintessential Line, and ended up making a silver hanger for one of the gemstones and thought of you. So, I wanted to give it to you."
She turned around and held out her hand. He stepped forward and took what she offered. Within the six-inch ring, a silhouette of silver mountains covered the inside area. She'd embedded three of the stones she worked with on all three peaks.
"It's beautiful," he said, rubbing the pad of his thumb along the smooth silver. "Thank you."
"You can put it in a window and the sun will shine through the garnets making them lighter, or prop it on a dresser if you want." She motioned him to follow her out of the room. "Sometimes when I'm stuck on what to do with the pieces of jewelry that will be sold, I make something fun and for myself to clear my head. It's not a big thing, but the mountains reminded me of you, so it's yours."
"Thank you." He set the gift on the table. "Are you having problems with your work?"
"Nope." She flipped on the outside light and checked the lock on the door.
"The phone call seemed intense," he said.
She shook her head. "It was nothing."
Her change in mood alerted him that something wasn't right. She'd been upset for the last two hours because of the confrontation in town, and now she was talking and acting as if nothing was wrong, despite the one-sided conversation he'd overheard with the person on the phone.
Jolene approached him and put her arms around his waist. "Do you want to go to bed?"
"At seven o'clock?" He ran his hands up and down her back, curious about her reasons to distract him.
Her back remained stiff and unyielding. He wanted to get to the bottom of what bothered her, but he'd take going to bed. Maybe while naked she'd feel more like talking to him.
"What is time?" She grinned, moving to shut off the lights in the main part of the cabin. "You've got an early morning, and you didn't get much sleep last night."
They walked together down the hall to the bedroom. He unbuttoned his flannel shirt. "Sleep is the last thing on my mind."
She glanced over her shoulder and smiled. "Good, because I wasn't planning on sleeping...yet."
Jolene pulled down the covers on the bed and turned the lamp on the nightstand on. He flipped the light switch for the ceiling light off. Undoing his belt, he watched Jolene undress. Her shyness enthralled him. He'd never known a time when there wasn't some hesitation for her to undress in front of him. For purely selfish reasons, seeing her take the extra steps to keep her side toward him and the way she sucked in her stomach told him that she never got used to having a close relationship with another man.
He stepped out of his jeans and walked naked to the bed. Taking a condom out of the drawer, he laid the protection on top of the nightstand, then lounged against the headboard with the pillow propped behind his shoulders. He watched her hurry to the other side of the room, jump in bed, and pull the sheet and blanket up to the top of her breasts.
Jolene rolled toward him and her breasts pressed against his side. His balls ached in pleasure, and he put his arm around her, tucking her close as he cupped her breast with his hand.
"Let's hibernate." She laid her hand on his stomach. "I'll call Poppy and tell him to forget about plowing the road. Tomorrow, we can be lazy. I've got some movies for the DVD player you can watch. I'll get caught up on reading my stack of magazines I'm two months behind on. We'll forget that we have to work. You can survive on leftover pizza. Sound good?"
"You paint a pretty picture, Jolene Shayne." He scooted down in bed and turned on his side until his face was even with her breasts. "What will we do if we get cabin fever?"
She sighed. "We could..."
He lightly licked around her areola.
"...um." She pressed her breast against his mouth. "Go outside."
Her nipple hardened and he gave it a quick suck. "What are we doing outside?"
He latched on to the tight bud and closed his eyes. Damn, he could lay here all night long giving her comfort, taking comfort, listening to her dream.
"A hammock. We'd need to buy one and hang it between two of the pine trees." She hummed in pleasure. "The breeze would cool us off, and we'd nap holding each other."
He cupped her ass, drawing her closer and she brought her leg up and draped her thigh over his hip. Cocooned in her warmth, he sucked rhythmically on her breast while taking pleasure from her other breast soft against his cheek.
"When the afternoon sun dips below the mountain peak, a deer will wander over and look at us. Knowing it's safe, she'd eat apples from the tree on the other side of the yard," Jolene said dreamily.
Her fingers combed through his hair lazily as she talked. He swallowed, drawing her nipple deeper on his tongue and stroked her. Between touching Jolene and listening to her drop back into their old habits of fantasizing about life in the cabin, he wanted her.
He gently let go of her breast, swung his arm out and grabbed the condom off the nightstand, and rolled on the protection.
"Keep talking," he said, lifting her leg and placing it back on his hip as he took her nipple back into his mouth.
"The sprinkler will be going in the yard." She pushed her pelvis forward and captured his dick between her legs. "One of those sprinklers that shoot the water out in a circle. I love how the sun sparkles off the drops and the sweet scent of the grass when it's wet."
He cupped his hand behind her knee and slid inside her pussy.
She moaned. "You'll scoop me out of the hammock and carry me up on the porch where you'll sit me down on the top step and slowly peel my shorts and panties down my legs."
